Official Jessica Watson Blog

I'm sorry I haven't been posting here lately, I've been finding it easer to keep my Facebook page updated so check that out to see what I've been up to!

With only six weeks left till the ten crew and our fantastic coaching team come together in Sydney to start training for the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, it's time to step back and take a look at how the projects coming together. 

Ummm, where do we start. Let's see....in short things are going really well!

A few weeks back we competed in the Audi Sydney to Southport race, the first race of the campaign. Competing in the race was a relatively last minute decision and with a split crew made up partly of our crew (Sean, Lisa, Alex, Gen and myself) and partly of Ella Bache's another Challenge (Ella's AC) original crew, we didn't have any high expectations competitively. Mostly the race was meant as a training exercise. But the conditions (light and sometimes non-existent winds) played to our strengths and we had a win, quite literally, by winning the Sydney 38 division by over 5 nautical miles! 

One of the race highlights was unveiling our kite (spinnaker) newly decked out with the lovely'Joy' designed by Mel Curry for our fabulous major sponsor Ella Bache (see pic below). She's quite something and I think we're already becoming a little attached to her!

While I'm on the subject, we've got plenty of exciting news regarding new sponsors.

If you hadn't already heard, Ella Bache have come onboard again as our major sponsor which is fabulous, as I can't imagine a sailing project without them. Thanks John and Pippa for your contiunued support. We're all looking forward to rubbing on Ella's 30+ Sportsblock whenever we're out on the water!

We've also got some other amazing sponsors to announce and thank; firstly Macquarie Life Active who share similar passions for innovation and for challenging themselves, so I'd say we're going to have a lot of fun working with them as our Gold Sponsor partner.

And welcome on board Metcash under their IGA brand, as our Silver Sponsor partner. They have already been hugely supportive.

We have also just secured Ansarada, an exciting young company that join us as a Bronze Sponsor partner.

Not to forget Musto, our sailing performance wear partner who are teaming up with us again.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) for whom I'm a Youth Representative, will be our official campaign charity partner (we will announce more on this one next month!).

Over to the other side of the world in the UK, our three pommy crew members Pete, Will and Mike have been joined by our Melbourne based crew Leigh for an exciting few months of sailing including the famous or possibly infamous Fastnet race. The Fastnet is best described as the northern hemisphere version of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart. The boys on three separate boats, are set to finish the race anytime soon so jump on http://www.facebook.com/AnotherChallenge2011?ref=ts to hear how the race went.

It's pretty exciting that four of our crew were able to do the Fastnet as the experience that they'll have gained will be invaluable come Boxing Day and the start of our own race. 

All the other crew are also keeping busy with all sorts of exciting things as well. Cam who's also Melbourne based is in high demand sailing and racing other boats. Levi hasn't been able to squeeze in much sailing with us yet with work commitments and the girls Gen and Alex have been getting to know Ella's AC pretty well, while crewing her up the coast.

Then there's Lisa, (Lisa won the seamanship award in last years Rolex Sydney to Hobart) who has just skippered Ella's AC up to Hamilton Island with crew members Sean and Alex. I hear they've also been working very hard over the last few days to get the boat set back up into racing mode for Hamilton island Race Week which starts tomorrow and also a part of Tourism Queensland's Season of Sailing campaign.

We're very lucky to have such a great and dedicated crew who have all either deferred Uni or put aside other commitments to concentrate on their sailing this year. Talking of dedicated, our coaches Chris and Jonno having been putting time and effort into the campaign to make sure everything runs smoothly come the end of the year, so a big thanks to Chris and Jonno!

And myself, I've been enviously hearing the reports from out on the water while rushing all over Australia taking part in tours with my young Australian of the Year role and attending the never ending stream of events. As always, it's lots of fun but I think I might be taking a few deep breaths when things slow down a little next year!

 As I mentioned Hamilton Island Race Week starts tomorrow and again with only some of our crew taking part, we're planning on using it as a training excise. Make sure you jump on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/AnotherChallenge2011?ref=ts for updates throughout the week.

 Jess

Pic: Our very loud and cool kite, aptly named 'Joy'